#a first draft is either bad or it doesn't exist. no in between. and I'd much prefer it be bad

[imagination-overreaction]

There is nothing quite as satisfying as getting all your thoughts down on the page and seeing the terrible blob of a first draft before you.

[finnlongman]

Realised yesterday that the Blodeuwedd book is the fifth adult book I've drafted. This surprised me, as I would have expected the number to be a lot higher. Did some maths, and that means I've drafted eighteen YA books (and one project that doesn't fit neatly into either category).

I mean, I guess it makes sense. I started writing novels at 13, and the bulk of my 24 books were written in the first five years (and were terrible), with my pace slowing considerably once I started writing projects I cared enough about to edit repeatedly. Naturally, I wrote YA, because I was 13-18 and that was most of what I was reading, and those themes were what interested me because they were relevant to my life.

Still surprised me, though, because it feels like nearly all my ideas now are adult. (Again, I guess that's natural: I'm 27, I read a lot of adult books, those are the stories feeding my creative and intellectual wells.) Just the other week I put together a proposal document that technically had 15 different books in it. It's useful to have a sense of exactly what it is I've shelved -- mostly, a lot of truly terrible YA.

That's the real difference -- I've written five adult books, and they're all readable (even if some need more editing than others) and potentially viable for a future in publishing. But of the YA books... I'd be surprised if five of those can say the same 😅 (TBA, THK, TBA3, sure. There are a couple of others that might have potential, but they're not there yet.) Mostly because a lot of them were written between the ages of 13 and 18 and... I'm not saying teenagers can't write good books. But I could not write good books as a teenager, and writing bad ones is how I learned. TBA was originally written when I was 18, it was the first book I wrote that was decent, and it still bears absolutely no resemblance to the first draft now because I had to rework it so much to make it good.

Of course, this list only shows completed first drafts, and I have many many incomplete drafts in my past... I've started and abandoned several other YA books that I'd like to come back to and which are probably miles better than the existing ones, including a couple of contemporaries. I don't know what my next YA book will be after TBA3, because I'd like it to be one of those contemporaries if I can bring myself to actually write it, but also that would be a massive shift in mood and maybe I should keep things stabby for a while since it's what people are expecting of me...

Eventually I'll do a more detailed genre breakdown and look at how my focus as a writer has shifted over the years -- I think that would be really interesting. To me. Possibly not to anyone else, lol.

[fayesdiary]

For the character ask game: Faye (you may have talked about these things for her before but ah well), Lilith, and/or Robin!

Oh well indeed, there's no reason to not talk about her more!

Send me a character

Faye

First impression: Before Echoes had been released there was just her artwork and just thought she was really cute! Then people started translating the dialogue from the Japanese release and went "Oh. Oh no."

Impression now: Well I'm working on a week about her, that's indication enough of what I think nowadays about her😂 Bonus rambles here! It's really funny how in general I tend to bond to characters who have been done dirty by either canon, the fandom, or both. I guess it says something about myself?

Favorite moment: Her reunion with Celica if she visits Ram Village in Act 2 and didn't recruit Faye with Alm! It's an incredibly sweet moment because even despite Faye being jealous of Celica, she's overjoyed at seeing her again and immediately asks her if she can join her party. And since Celica gets passive bonuses from Faye, we know the feeling is mutual!

Idea for a story: This is really silly and self-indulgent but I would love a Magical Girl AU with her as the protagonist😂

Unpopular opinion: Besides the obvious "I love her", I'd say that I actually think the intial premise of a character who's so obsessed with somebody it starts becoming genuinely harmful to both herself and the people around her without falling into yandere territory is great! (Especially as a deconstruction of the Catria archetype that had become downright saturated by this point) My actual beef is that the writers never address it, deconstruct it or heck, do anything meaningful with her, never giving her the chance to develop, being fleshed out or improve as a person. Unsuprisingly, I hate her endcard with a passion and pretend it's not a thing.

Favorite relationship: Celica, of course! Rinea comes close second because of this. For platonic relationships, I'd say Silque (after the initial awkwardness) and Genny, but lately I'm really digging her genuinely becoming friends with Alm after he rejects her. It's kinda weird without explaining it, but I think it works!

Favorite headcanon: I'd say it's that the events of the prologue really traumatized her because it's what makes the rest of her characterization (fanon or not) tick. For a more fluffy headcanon, that she's the one who taught Celica how to make flower crowns!🌸

Lilith

First impression: It was back when I was still in the FE subreddit ew and the "Fates bad" circlejerk was stronger than ever, so unsuprisingly it was just joking about how she exist just for cheap drama deaths in two routes and gets completely forgotten in the best one despite being the main villain's daughter, so like everyone else I pretty much just treated her like a joke.

Impression now: Well I still believe the game undeniably treated her like shit, honestly even worse than Rinea in my opinion. She never gets to have anything nice (not even a birthday or battle animations), the only time she has the spotlight is in a DLC that's completely ignored in the base game or when she dies for cheap drama and it's a massive shame because there's just so much she can offer! She's Anankos' daughter and Corrin's only biological sister, she knows more about what's going on in Valla than even Azura when you think about it, and even as a character there's just so much that can be explored about her, between her daddy issues, her self-worth being rock bottom (hell considering how eager she is to sacrifice her life she might even be suicidal), her relationship with Corrin and their family and her wanting to belong with them but also feeling that she can't (otherwise she'll get Valla'd among other things) or that she doesn't deserve it and the guilt at having to keep the truth hidden from them. Also, I swear that whole deal with the Astral Dragon Moro (remember them? Me neither) is a remnant of Fates' earlier draft because it just screams cut content for me.

Favorite moment: The ending of Hidden Truths because it's the only moment the writers bother to explore her at least a little. Sadly, you have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find good canon moments about her. (She has more lines in Heroes for fuck's sake)

Idea for a story: Honestly? Just her talking in the castle and see how she interacts with the rest of the group would be great to see! Also imagine the reunion with the Awakening Trio, that would be really hilarious and I have to write it someday😂

Unpopular opinion: Well, I guess really wanting to like her and thinking there's a lot she can offer is unpopular on its own...

Favorite relationship: Corrin's pretty much the only one she interacts with in canon, but at the same time I really like them! There's also the potential of exploring their relationship before and after the reveal, and I always wondered how they'd interact as siblings! Azura would also be really interesting, given they're both similar when you think about it, both of them coming from Valla, having a lot to hide and dealing with it in different ways and also... I wonder how she'd react if she learned she was Anankos' daughter. Also I really love the idea of her becoming Kana's aunt and guardian in Fates Intertwined because that would be really sweet :3

Favorite headcanon: Well there's the one I have about her being the only way to go back and forth from the Astral Castle meaning her death is actually a huge blow to the army because it means they can't go back to their safe haven anymore (also there's a good chunk of people trapped in the castle so yikes) because it makes her have a crucial role that no one can take away from her, but also the fact that her main talent is magic (being able to wield tomes, staves and her dragonstone) and she can use water spells! Oh, and that she eventually gets a dragonstone of her own so she can return to her human form. (that, when you think about it, it's also the one she lived as for most of her life)

[robotslenderman]

Hi, absolutely loving radio silence!!! But just thought I'd something. I wonder how bias Wendy's view of robin is? Like is he as bad as she says? Or just bad in a more downplayed way and nossie are exaggerating? Like look at calebros in gerards words. When in reality, it's quite different. Also, what made you decide robin as your antagonist? He doesn't hate nossies cannonly. But this is a fanfic so it was your call and it was a good choice too. Really seems like a bad guy! It's a great portraya!

Honestly at this point my fic is more inspired by canon (yes, I know, just go with me XD) than based strictly on it. That's because I only skimmed the Nosferatu Clan Novel, didn't read the Ventrue novel (where Prince Isaac Goldwin appears, which I found out after I wrote the first draft and put a LOT of headcanon into Isaac which is almost certainly wrong... headcanon that the end of my story relies on in order to function), and accidentally based half of the story story on an assumption I ended up finding out was false.

Cut because this got long and I know not everyone reads Radio Silence, but Cock Robin, Wendy, and their relationship to each other addresses one of RS's biggest themes. Discussing this without spoiling their character arcs was actually damn hard lol.

TL;DR at the bottom

The assumption I got wrong -- "Cock Robin is a Justicar."

RS takes place during BJD after The Anarch Freefall and before Azhi Dahaka. And uh, somehow I completely and entirely forgot that Cock Robin quit his job as a Justicar to be an Archon instead, and this was mentioned in The Anarch Freefall.

Problem with that is if I fix it, it throws my entire plot and his role in it out the window, so I've had to completely ignore his resignation in order for the entire second half of the story to work, oops. If I went with canon, I'd honestly have to remove him from the novel entirely in exchange for another Justicar.

Which would be a shame because I explicitly wanted Cock Robin in it because he's a Nosferatu.

One of the big themes of Radio Silence is family and community. The Nosferatu are a family. They're a collection of smaller family units in one big extended family.

Cock Robin is a foil to Wendy. Wendy is very much stuck in the image of the Nosferatu as they tell themselves as -- that they're one big supportive family, that they're collectivists instead of individualists. Cock Robin, when he appears, is a depiction of a criticism of this. Where Wendy brushes the Nosferatu's biggest flaws under the carpet, Cock Robin drags them kicking and screaming into the light and says "this is not good enough, I demand better."

So how does this relate to Wendy's view on Cock Robin?

She's not so much wrong about him so much as:

Not aware of the full story

Not presenting the full story

These are both due to the same reason: she doesn't like to think about the worst parts of the Nosferatu culture.

I mentioned that Wendy brushes the Nosferatu's biggest flaws under the carpet. There is a hugeass one that Wendy actually withholds from the reader because it's such a bad flaw she doesn't even like to think about it, and this flaw is hinted at in the very first chapter, but she immediately glosses over it because it's so fucking bad she can't stand remembering it exists.

Wendy she loves her family. She loves her clan. But there are enormous flaws in Nosferatu culture that are there to stay, and won't stop happening because one fledgling (indeed, a lot of fledglings) has a problem with them.

Because Kindred are immortal, so old viewpoints don't die out. Instead of the new generation developing different norms, the new generation is eventually forced over time to accept these norms and eventually perpetuate them. Wendy adores her clan, so she just... uncomfortably acknowledges these flaws at best, and flat out ignores them at worst, because she doesn't know how to reconcile her love of her family with the at times horrific nature of the Nosferatu.

Cock Robin's canon story is that he was abandoned by his sire, so he didn't get to spend his chidlehood in a nice, big, warm, fuzzy, happily family like Wendy did, who had a doting sire and a supportive family. So he never had that conflict between the people he cared about and the fucking awful things they do to maintain and support the family.

Much like Wendy, Cock Robin knows that the flaws of the Nosferatu are not something that are ever going to be addressed or changed on a clan-wide scale. While Wendy accepts that they're there to stay whether she likes them or not, Cock Robin takes actions that says he'd rather burn the whole thing down and start over from scratch.

That is an interpretation of Cock Robin's issues with the Nosferatu as Wendy and many Nosferatu understand it.

But truthfully Wendy doesn't have the full story either. I mean, in a way she does, but she also doesn't because again, she doesn't like to think too deeply or look too closely at the Nosferatu's flaws, which means she doesn't come to certain obvious conclusions that anyone would if they thought about it for longer than three seconds. If she allowed herself to really face the flaws of the Nosferatu, it wouldn't be hard for her to put two and two together and form a theory as to why Cock Robin is the way he is.

So TLDR -- on the surface, Cock Robin is as bad as the Nosferatu say. But if you think about the Nosferatu from a certain perspective and are willing to examine their worst flaws... well, you'd probably supply him with the gasoline so he can burn it all down.

[mellometal]

Hey, everyone.

If you saw the post from earlier, I had to delete it. There were things I forgot to discuss and things that didn't get saved into my drafts. Sorry if you have to see this again.

I've been WAITING to talk about Glee. Not in the good way either. There's so much wrong with the show, and it's sickening. Yes, I've watched the show last year. Against my will, but that's because of other people refusing to put on anything else besides Glee. I can say that I hate Glee with my entire being. (My initial reason for hating it was because they covered "SING" by My Chemical Romance and turned it into a slow, patriotic song when it's a song about rebellion. NOTHING about "SING" is patriotic. I hated the show since I first heard about it...for that very reason. I was like thirteen or so at the time when I first heard about Glee? Despite it being out since 2009.

Though it's been over for several years now, it's a show that many people have mixed feelings about. From what I've seen, you either love Glee or you absolutely hate it. There's no in-between that I've seen. (If you can't already tell, I hate the show.)

The show is a literal dumpster fire, the characters are all fucking awful people and all of them are poorly written, the script pisses me off, it literally makes me feel disgusting, and don't even get me started on the covers. Most of the covers aren't that good. A lot of them sound like nails on a chalkboard to me. The pacing of the show makes NO sense in certain areas (like when Blaine was initially made to be a grade above Kurt, but was then changed to be like the same grade as him so he'd stay). It just feels like everyone in the show is either a Mary Sue, a Gary Stu, their whole personality is just that they're from a minority group or they're EDGY AND HARDCORE DELINQUENTS BLEEEEHHHHH, creepy as fuck, bigoted as all hell, or they're just background characters who occasionally have the spotlight.

TW: The following post and any other posts that I'll make about this show contains subject matter that may be triggering for some audiences. It will go into subjects like racism, homophobia, ableism, outing of a person in the LGBT community, bigotry in general, statutory r@pe (between teachers and students), teachers being creepy towards students, mentioned past child m0l3stati0n and invalidation of the victim's trauma, making fun of su1c1d3, making fun of overdose, making fun of drug addiction....a lot of fucked up things.

If anything mentioned above is triggering for you, please feel free to scroll and consume safe media instead. I'd rather have you be safe than to be triggered by anything I'm gonna talk about.

Let's start off easy. The characters. It's easy to tear them apart. At least the most problematic ones.

Rachel, the Main Character™️, is textbook definition of a Mary Sue. Instead of calling her Rachel, I'm gonna call her Mary Sue for the whole post. She's almost completely perfect (like too perfect), her flaws are minor if anything, she gets all the special treatment....you get the picture. When Mary Sue does anything fucked up or she says anything fucked up, it either goes unnoticed, people make up excuses for her being a shitty person, or it gets twisted so it looks like Mary Sue is the hero! (I hate her. So much. I cannot stand her.)

Aaawwww, Mary Sue didn't want some OTHER GIRL (Sunshine) to steal HER spotlight, so she SENT THIS GIRL TO A CRACK HOUSE. A FUCKING CRACK HOUSE, OF ALL PLACES. A PLACE WHERE THIS GIRL COULD HAVE BEEN PUT IN SERIOUS DANGER. THIS GIRL COULD HAVE BEEN SERIOUSLY INJURED AT BEST AND KILLED AT WORST. Yes, I'm aware not all drug houses are the same, but still. It doesn't matter what this girl did. What Sunshine did is irrelevant. It's not okay to send people to strange places where they don't know anyone, and are put in danger, even to the point of either getting injured or killed. But it's okay, because at least it's not an "active" crack house you sent Sunshine to, RIGHT, Mary Sue? You still sent some poor girl to a place where she could have been put in serious danger, even to possibly get injured or killed, all because you didn't want her to steal YOUR spotlight. You fucking disgusting, entitled, bratty cunt. You don't need the spotlight all the time anyway. THAT'S HOW THEATRE WORKS. YOU DON'T ALWAYS GET THE LEAD ROLE. YOU DON'T ALWAYS GET THE ROLE YOU WANT. AND THAT'S OKAY. YOU WORK WITH WHAT YOU GOT. Sincerely, a theatre kid.

There are other fucked up things Mary Sue has done, but this is the one thing I could find anyone talking about. If I remember correctly, she hurt her Gay Best Friend™️ Kurt in some way. All I remember is that Kurt was mad at Mary Sue about something. Mary Sue is annoying as fuck. What else can I say about her?

Next, we have Finn, who's textbook definition of a Gary Stu. I'll call him Gary Stu throughout this post. I hate this fucker too. He's the Main Character's Boyfriend™️, the Hot Quarterback™️, and The Good Guy™️. Yet....he's not a good person. He's treated like he's a good person, but he's really not. His flaws are fairly minor and excused (and any major flaws aren't even talked about much), he's almost completely perfect, and every fucked up thing he does is ignored or is justified in some way. Like how he outed Santana as lesbian in the hallway WITHIN EARSHOT OF EVERYONE. HE DIDN'T EVEN APOLOGIZE FOR THIS.

As a woman who has struggled with her sexuality growing up, this really brought back shit I went through. I "dated" boys when I was younger to cover up the fact that I'm only attracted to other women. I wasn't happy with these guys at all. I acted like I did so nobody would suspect anything. I felt nothing for them, except for in a platonic way. I've been outed twice. Once when I thought I was bisexual with a strong preference for other women (by my dad's girlfriend at the time), and when I came out as lesbian (by my brother). It sucks to be outed. The people who outed me in real life could have put me in danger. They could have made it so I had no place to go back to. They could have had me get hurt. It's a scary feeling. Like, it doesn't matter if you're supportive or if you're in the LGBT community. You don't fucking out people without their explicit permission. You especially don't out people to their abusers or to people they don't trust, let alone out them publicly. That's what happened to me. I don't wish this on anyone.

***By the way, for anyone who's closeted, you're valid, I love you, and I know how it feels to be stuck in the closet. You don't have to come out right now. Come out whenever you're ready to. Whenever it's safe for you to do so.***

Or how about the fact that Gary Stu made fun of Kurt's voice because he's gay? Gary Stu apparently has ✨anger issues✨ and that's pretty much the excuse they use to justify him doing fucked up shit to people.

They treat the characters who are from minority groups (i.e., BIPOC, AAPI, LGBT community, disabled people) like absolute garbage, put them through all this horrific shit, or they put them on a pedestal simply for being in a minority group. The teachers and other school staff are either written to be total bigots (Sue), or they're total pr3dators (Mr. Schue, the school nurse, and another teacher who I can't remember her name off the top of my head).

Sue pretty much only exists to be a poorly written villain who's a bigoted bitch just to be a bigoted bitch. Yes, there were some things she WAS right about (like how "Blurred Lines" wasn't an appropriate song choice for the Glee Club™️, but Mr. Schue The Pr3dator™️ downplayed it). Other than that...that's all I can think of. Because everything else that came out of her mouth was bigoted bullshit. Like these right here, for example:

Or how she drugged the principal, date r@ped him, and blackmailed him?

How about them making a tasteless joke about Sue committing su1c1d3 and having her "overdose" on multivitamin gummies?

DO I NEED TO EXPLAIN HOW FUCKED UP ALL OF THIS IS? I do? Well, first of all, she called people racist, homophobic, ableist, and otherwise disgusting names. She boiled them down to their race, sexual orientation, their disability, and their appearance in general. Second, SHE DRUGGED, BLACKMAILED, AND DATE R@PED SOMEBODY. I don't think I need to explain how that's bad. The evidence is right there. Third, she said she was committing "sue-icide" by overdosing on multivitamin gummies. (Yes, you actually can OD on vitamins in supplement form, and it can cause serious symptoms and even death. Specifically with vitamins A, D, E, and K, and Iron. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble. They're a lot harder to remove from the body. The B vitamins and vitamin C aren't as severe if you do OD on them because they're water-soluble, but still be careful. You can't OD on vitamins and minerals you find in food. If you take supplements, vitamins, etc., only take what's on the bottle.) As someone who has su1c1d@l thoughts on and off, this is extremely insulting. Yes, I do use humor and I joke about my own experiences to cope, but this? Nah. Nothing about this is funny or cute in the slightest. Enough said.

Do I need to explain how fucking terrible it is to make light of a serious topic like this? It was never funny to see Britney Spears' mental health be at that low of a point in 2007. It was never funny to see the abuse the paparazzi inflicted on her. How the fuck was this ever okay? You can dislike Britney Spears all you want, but this was never it.

This is all I have for now. I'll probably make a part two because there are way too many things to talk about.

[semblanche]

ask to be added/removed from tag list!

current title: common tongue

pov: first person, single narrator

genre: (dark) fantasy

status: first draft

features: lgbt+ rep, poc main characters, linguistics, body horror, dark themes, wor(l)dbuilding, magic, runaways

summary:

In order to make language more holistic, all encompassing, the Council of L. has a plan.

From a young age, children are taken from their families and reared to become a part of language - to form and create new words by acting them out in a series of highly specific, often destructive experiences. This in turn helps turn the word literal, and eventually implements it in common vocabulary.

Of course, these words aren't ones like 'bed' or 'smile.' No, the words to be formed are ones we all already know the meaning to, but have never been able to describe in a single, instantly identifiable way - oddly specific feelings we all know but can't quite put our fingers on, exact moments in time we've all felt but would otherwise take a lifetime trying to describe.

New words like these can only be created by acting them out. They will then magically peel away from you, a second skin, and transition into part of language itself. You bring this word to life by experiencing what it means, no matter how ruinous it may be.

Because in the Council's hands, language is no longer passive. It's active, a force that needs to live through another to learn to exist on its own. A parasite of exposure.

And you? You are the exposure. And if you're ruined in the process, well - that's no business of theirs.

Just don't let it interfere with their plans.

[A story of a girl and her three friends as they navigate a world hellbent on ruining them for a greater purpose than their own. A story about four kids torn apart by a language meant to bring them together. A story that achingly, desperately deserves a happy ending.]

excerpt:

We huddle beneath the oak tree like we used to, the leaves outlined in gold against the setting sun. None of us speak. None of us know how. We're now a part of the words we say, and still, somehow, language has failed us.

It's Kaja who first breaks the silence. "Well," she says, and it's so painfully happy it almost hurts to hear, "I guess that's over."

No one answers, so I take pity. "Yeah."

"It really wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be," Kaja says. I can tell she's grateful I answered, is trying to fill in the gap in conversation the best she can, but I kind of wish she'd stop. Her words jam the wrong way into our silence; a child stubbornly forcing a wooden cylinder into a square shaped hole. Her smile, usually so carefree, now shines like a lighthouse in front of us, desperate to keep us all afloat.

And, just by looking at Ka and Rozas, I can tell they'd rather drown.

"What was yours like?" I ask. Ka is shaking now, trembling head to toe like a leaf in the wind, but I pretend not to notice - have to pretend not to notice, know it's the only way we can go on. Kaja either doesn't notice either, or is even better than I am at pretending.

"Kind of... sweet? Nicer than I thought it'd be. Really, I wouldn't mind doing it again."

Her tone seems genuine. Too genuine. I think back on my Task, and pretend not to notice this either. "What's your word?"

She says it. I repeat it, and she flinches. "Your accent is a bit off," she says. We both know that's not it.

"I like it."

She beams. "Thank you."

"Can you shut the fuck up?" Rozas abruptly says. We stare, but before either of us can say anything Ka's knees buckle under him and he collapses, a ragdoll with no sound. Rozas just manages to get there before he hits the ground, one arm hoisting him back up, letting him lean, weak and trembling, against his chest. His eyes are flashing murderously. "Ka's this close to keeling over, and you wanna sit there chatting about doing it all again. What the fuck has gotten into you?" Kaja goes to say something to this, eyes slow and uncomprehending, but Rozas isn't done. "Shut up. Is he your brother or not? Take him home."

Kaja blinks, owlish. She looks between Rozas and Ka like she can't make the connection between them. "What's wrong with him?"

"Hell should I know? Maybe he ate something that didn't sit right with him. Maybe he's got sunstroke. Maybe he was tortured so some sick assholes don't have to waste time describing what they want to say. Who knows? Just-" and here he sighs, mixed parts anger and hurt, an exhaustion I'd never seen him bear before weighing down his shoulders "- take him home. Now."

Kaja wordlessly nods. Ka is shifted from Rozas' arms to hers, still silent. I help. Ka feels almost eerily fragile in my grasp; a baby bird, a glass figurine. He's still shaking uncontrollably. His breaths escape, short and shallow, through barely parted lips. I watch Kaja's eyes roam, dumbly, across his form - and I watch Rozas' eyes already be there.

"Take him home," he repeats. "Please."

And somehow, of everything so far - Kaja's neglect, Ka's weakness, my Task itself - it's that 'please' that makes me feel the most afraid.

[worldoflis]

Some really good tips there! Especially the Google Docs one - though to be fair it also freaks me out just a little bit (and I'd probably be constantly cheating by selecting what I've written and highlighting it that way :D)

Things that have helped me:

accept I'm a slow writer I admit, this seems a little lame, but just making peace with the fact I'll never be able to crunch out thousands of words at a time has helped me tremendously. so I'll set my goal at like 250 words a day, and I usually make that, and then I get to be happy with that and at the end of the week I've written 2k (or more). but if I set my goal at 1k a day, and two days in a row I barely manage 200 words, then I get discouraged and I stop trying and at the end of the week I have 400 words and a bad feeling (remember: Terry Pratchett wrote 500 words a day and look where that got him!)

sometimes when I get stuck it helps to put things in all caps between brackets like this: [AND THEN SOME EMOTIONAL INTROSPECTION IDK]. it requires a little practice though, but usually if you reread it after a week or so, you arrive at that point with a much better understanding of what needs to happen. (this also works very well for things I need to look up, esp. when I'm "on a roll", because I know if I start researching I'll get lost in that and never get back in the writing mood)

a cliché but: a first draft doesn't have to be good, it just has to exist this sort of harks back to the previous point, and also the tip above about writing with no plan to post. because what you write is a draft, not your final story - no one will read it. you'll get back to it, edit it multiple times, ... which means you can

let it go now, this is SUPER hard, so make sure you have thoroughly internalized the idea that YOU'RE WRITING A DRAFT AND NO ONE WILL READ IT. so if you doubt between two expressions: write it both ways, read it out loud, and if you can't decide which feels better, it probably means it doesn't matter too much. especially with the little words, you could highlight them as "something to be decided later". and then you move on. delegate the decision to future you. because you'll edit it later anyway, and then you'll have a much better feel for whether there should be a 'but' or an 'and' there.

write. a lot. admittedly, I don't do this either because I'm a hypocrite, but to bring out another cliché: practice makes perfect. and the more sentences you build, the easier it'll get.

I hope you manage to find a system that works for you anon! but now if you'll excuse me, I got a big bang deadline in two days and I got a lot of decisions to make that past-me left for today-me ;D

How do I get myself to stop getting stuck on the little things when writing fics? I'll have everything planned out and ready to go, but the second I start actually writing I end up redoing each paragraph up to 6 times each, and I spend probably a good 20 minutes focusing on whether to put the word 'to' instead of 'of', or 'and' instead of 'but'. It makes short fics sometimes months long projects and it's so annoying! I end up getting so frustrated over these teeny tiny things that I have to just stop writing altogether cause it ruins my mood. Any tips? Words of encouragement? I just have so many wips I want to finish and am constantly burning myself out from obsessing over things that don't matter...

(Lmfao, even typing this up I rewrote it twice and changed a bunch of words!! I can't stop!!)

Oof! That sounds rough, anon. I can give you a couple of tips for getting over it in the moment, but you might want to dig a bit deeper into why you're doing this. Is this level of perfectionism and scrupulosity something that you have in other areas of your life? What is it about writing that sends you into this state?

I think one thing you might want to try is writing with no plan to post. If no one else will see it, perhaps you'll be able to relax a little bit. So often, our desire to make everything just right is more about escaping the shame of being wrong than it is about wanting something to turn out well. If you're worried that someone else will notice an error that you didn't, you'll spend all of your time focusing on not making a mistake and less and less time focusing on telling a story or having fun.

Another thing you could try is working in a digital medium like google docs and changing the text colour to match the page colour. Force yourself to just type for a certain number of pages or a certain period of time and only then switch the font colour back so that you're able to read back what you wrote.

Editing sentence by sentence or word by word is definitely a situation where you're looking at the trees and ignoring the entire forest. Try to get yourself back to thinking about the story instead of the words you're using to tell it. That might mean stepping back from writing anything down at all. Think the story. Tell the story. Voice record it and play it back, even. Whatever you need to do to let go of the individual words so that you can find the whole tale.

Have any of you been in a similar spot before? How did you deal with it?